Performance by Jamal Cyrus, joined by poet K. Curtis Lyle and bassist Damon Smith, within the exhibition 'Saharan Air Layer'.
Jamal Cyrus performs Horn Beam Sacrament at Art League Houston on Saturday, October 17, at 5 PM. He'll be joined by poet K. Curtis Lyle and bassist Damon Smith for what's described as a sonic and ritual exploration. The performance is part of his exhibition Saharan Air Layer, which takes its name from the dust and sand that rises from the Sahara and drifts across the Atlantic to Houston. The show runs from September 18 through December 20, so you can see the work before and after the performance. A monograph will accompany the exhibition, with writing by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, W. Jamaal Wright, and K. Curtis Lyle.
Cyrus is a Houston native, born here in 1973, and he's the 2026 Texas Artist of the Year—an award Art League Houston has presented to contemporary Texas artists since 1983. His practice centers on collage and assemblage, with sound and music at the middle of it. He works with found materials like denim, seashells, and musical instruments to bring erased historical figures of the African diaspora back into view. He holds a BFA from the University of Houston and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania, and he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023 and the Driskell Prize in 2020.
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Horn Beam Sacrament brings that sound and music to the front of the room, with Cyrus performing alongside Lyle and Smith. The performance is one part of the larger Saharan Air Layer exhibition, which runs from September 18 to December 20 at Art League Houston, 1953 Montrose Blvd. The performance itself is on Saturday, October 17, at 5 PM, and it's free and open to the public.
